MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. There is a real risk of instability affecting a large area of the Middle East, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"Given the situation that we are witnessing, there is a real risk of instability in a much larger area in the Middle East," he pointed out at the first meeting under Moscow’s BRICS chairmanship of the 10-member intergovernmental organization’s "sherpas" (senior officials who represent their respective heads of state or government in preparing for a summit - TASS) and "sous-sherpas" (other senior officials who assist the "sherpa" - TASS).

Lavrov emphasized that the United States’ years-long attempts "to monopolize mediation efforts in the Middle East settlement process have led to a sharp escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip." "Tel Aviv’s refusal to implement the UN Security Council’s decision on the creation of a viable Palestinian state that would live side-by-side with Israel and other countries of the region in peace and good-neighborliness is being ignored, while it is this that is the key to long-term stability in the Middle East and the eradication of extremism and terrorism," the top Russian diplomat emphasized.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7, 2023, after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of border communities and taking several hundred civilians hostage. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on targets in the Strip and certain areas of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.